L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Louisbourg:
An Outpost of Empire

The
Siege of 1758

The
Fall of Louisbourg

[This text was
written by J. S. McLennan and was published in 1914. For the precise
citation, see the end of the document.]

LOUISBOURG'S
INCREASED IMPORTANCE

AS
had happened before in French colonial history, the capture of a French
position by the English, and its subsequent return by a treaty, had
increased in its owners a sense of its importance. After 1749 Louisbourg
was properly supported for the first time and its garrison increased.
This was made easy by the numbers of officers and men made available
for positions in the colonial forces through the disbanding of regular
regiments in the French service. Elaborate plans were made for strengthening
the fortifications, and Franquet, an eminent engineer, was placed in
charge of the work. A battery was erected at Rochfort Point. In the
siege of 1745 there were many empty embrasures, but in 1758 212 guns
and 17 mortars frowned from the walls and outlying batteries, and there
were 44 guns in reserve.

The
opening up of Isle Royale by roads, and the settlement of farmers on
it and on Isle St Jean, which would make the population of Louisbourg
less dependent on more distant sources of supply, were encouraged and
vigorously carried out.

On
the other hand England, too, was active. The importance of a base towards
the east, which had impressed itself on Warren during the year he held
office as governor of Cape Breton, was recognized by the authorities.
Halifax was founded in 1749 and its fortifications begun. Acadia, which
had remained entirely French, with the exception of a few families living
in the neighbourhood of Annapolis, was now to be developed ; and, although
in the long interval since 1713 various proposals for its settlement
had been ignored, the work, once undertaken, was vigorously prosecuted.
In three years after its founding, the population of Halifax numbered
four thousand.

These
local events were taking place in what was rather an imperfectly-kept
truce than a peace. The War of the Austrian Succession was begun over
a question of importance to the Bourbons. The capture of Louisbourg
by the provincials was the event of that war which made it of significance
to England and France . Colonial interests did not lose the predominance
they were then given by Shirley, for the Seven Years' War, most enduring
of any modern conflict in its consequences, was opened in America and
spread to Europe. The pages of state documents, of contemporary historians
and pamphleteers, are black with accusations of bad faith and the violation
of understandings, of treaties, of international law. In point of time
friction began in Nova Scotia. Here the French sent an armed force to
encamp on the Isthmus of Chignecto, to the north of the Missiquash,
the little stream which divides modern Nova Scotia from New Brunswick.
On its southern side the English built a fort, and the like course was
taken by French on the northern side. The English captured this outpost,
and off the coasts of Nova Scotia took French vessels and brought them
in as prizes to Halifax.

It
was, however, to the west of the Alleghanies that those events happened
which made the demand of trading England for the protection of its colonial
interests too clamorous for its ministry to resist. The Ohio Company,
strong in influence not only in the middle colonies but in London, found
its most profitable territories circumscribed by French attempts to
maintain possession of regions to which France's claim was prior to
that of England . In the conflicts which ensued George Washington appeared
on the stage of history, and the troops sent out from England under
Braddock met defeat on the Ohio . French ships were seized in English
ports and on the high seas, and Boscawen captured two French men-of-war.
These events occurred before the declaration of war in 1756. The course
of the conferences for delimitation of the boundaries between the American
possessions of the two powers indicates, as clearly as these events,
the temper of the governments. Far-fetched claims were put forward.
No attempt was made to find a solution which would permit a solid development
of the colonies of both powers. The conferences broke up, their fruitless
ending serving only to intensify the feeling that war was inevitable.
The force of an energetic and expanding people drove the English ministry
into action, which, even in the judgment of her ally Holland, made England
the aggressor. A weak French ministry, unprepared for war, hoped that
all the maritime powers would take alarm and band themselves under the
leadership of France to check her rival. These hopes were vain, and
France was forced to defend alone that world-encircling colonial Empire
which then was hers.

Louisbourg
was in neither of the debatable areas wherein friction and conflict
had occurred, and was therefore not disturbed until the war took a more
regular form than the reprisals and isolated encounters which lasted
from 1750 to 11756. It was watched by a fleet in 1756. In 1757 Lord
Loudoun proposed and attempted to carry out its reduction. A force of
over five thousand men was embarked at New York , and got only as far
as Halifax, where it was learned that the three squadrons, which the
French intended for Louisbourg, had duly arrived at that port. The certain
knowledge that the French fleet was superior in strength to that of
England, as well as the lateness of the season (early August), caused
the postponement of the attack. The British fleet under Admiral Holborne,
consisting of sixteen ships of the line, proceeded to blockade Louisbourg,
which was occur pied by a French fleet of eighteen ships of the line
and some frigates. Its commander-in-chief, du Bois de la Motte, did
not accept Holborne's challenge to come out and attack him. He occupied
the time in throwing up reinforcements for the defence of all the landing-places,
both to the east and to the west of Louisbourg, which might be utilized
by the enemy. While Holborne was off the port a most furious gale cast
away some of his ships, rendered those of them which had survived it
incapable of defence, and reduced them to such a state that, even after
repairing at Halifax, the English admiral was considered to have performed
a fine feat of seamanship by bringing them home through the autumn gales
of the Atlantic.

Du
Bois de la Motte did not take advantage of the situation and come out
to destroy the crippled British vessels, although his instructions pointed
out to him that aggression was often the best means of defence. He returned
to France, and received the highest honours which could be given to
a naval officer, as well as a handsome pension. No event marks more
clearly the different conceptions of a commander's duty obtaining in
the French and English navies than the fact that the year before Admiral
Byng had been shot for lack of vigour much less marked than that of
the French admiral who was so highly honoured. There was much dissatisfaction
in England at the failure of Loudoun's expedition. Pitt, in the force
he allotted, and in the leaders he chose for the next expedition-in
the steps, too, which he took to cut off reinforcements-did all he could
to ensure success.

AMHERST
'S ATTACK

The
story of the siege has been admirably told by more than one historian.
It began in the winter of 1758 with the intercepting of La Clue's fleet
by an overpowering naval force under Osborne. Then followed the -breaking
up of the other fleet intended for its relief by Hawke at the Isle of
Aix, the blockading of Louisbourg by Sir Charles Hardy, whose vigilance
was not watchful enough in the bad weather to prevent the safe arrival
there of des Gouttes' squadron. In due time the British fleet, fitted
out for the reduction of Louisbourg, assembled at Halifax and, after
making final arrangements, set sail for Gabarus Bay, where it arrived
on June 2.

The
fleet consisted of 23 ships of 50 guns and over, mounting in all 1648
guns, and was supported by 18 frigates. Admiral Boscawen was in command.
The army, 12,000 men of all ranks, was under command of Amherst, an
officer of promise, who was recalled from Germany to take charge of
these forces. His brigadiers were Whitmore, Lawrence and Wolfe, with
Colonel Bastide as engineer-in-chief.

The
magnetic personality and the professional ambition of Wolfe gave him
a predominance in council, as well as in the execution of the projects
undertaken for the reduction of the town - a predominance to which neither:
his experience nor his seniority entitled him. He was foremost in reconnoitring
[sic] the entrenchments along the shore of Gabarus Bay, where the French
lay in force to resist the landing. It was his privilege to lead the
division which made the principal attack. He had previously contemplated
an attack by way of Mire Bay and the little harbours to the east, but
the instructions from headquarters directed that the landing should
be attempted nearer the town.

The
War Office, under Lord Ligonier, had lavishly supplied the expedition
with materials of war. It had 1140 pieces of artillery, 90,000 shot
and shell, and 4,900 barrels of powder. So generous was the supply that,
although the siege lasted nearly three times as long as Wolfe thought
it should have done, only one-third of the powder was consumed.

The
defence of the town was conducted by the governor, the Chevalier de
Drucour, a sea officer of standing and character, but entirely without
military experience. The force under him consisted of 4 battalions of
regular troops, 2 companies of artillery, and 24 companies of colony
troops from Canada, in all over 3,000 men, supplemented by a few hundred
militia of the town, and aided by bands of Indians. The supply of stores
and provisions was ample. The naval force was 5 ships of war, mounting
340 guns, and 6 smaller vessels.

The
English force outnumbered the French by four to one. It had a proper
train of artillery. It was supported by a fleet overwhelming in strength.
Unless, therefore, its investment could be prevented, both French and
English knew that the capture of, the town was inevitable. It was consequently
the duty of de Drucour to prevent a landing, and, as the enemy, if successful,
intended to proceed against Quebec, to protract the siege as long as
possible. To this end the entrenchments along the shore, made in the
previous year, were occupied and armed with guns. When the landing was
finally attempted, two-thirds of the troops at Louisbourg were in these
entrenchments, many of the soldiers having been in the encampments for
more than a week in weather so bad that, from June 2, when the British
fleet arrived, until June 8, there was no day on which an attempt to
land was practicable. Indeed, on the 4th there was so fierce a gale
blowing from the east that the

British
fleet and transports were in danger. Then, or on the next day, the French
ships, doomed in any case to destruction or capture, might have hazarded,
with telling effect, an attack on the investing fleet and its scores
of transports.

Boscawen's
fleet and transports were anchored on a lee shore, a position in the
highest degree disadvantageous for resistance to determined attack by
a force bearing down on them with a favourable wind. The chance was
seen and discussed in Louisbourg, but des Gouttes, the commodore, was
unwilling to take the risk. After the enemy succeeded in landing, he
and his captains wished only to escape from the doomed port. A council
of war decided that the ships should remain to protract its defence,
but, with one exception, they were handled without spirit, and eventually
they were left to destruction, with only guards on board, while their
crews helped in the defence of the fortification.

It
was not until the early morning of the 8th that a landing could be attempted.
Then the three divisions rowed towards the shore ; that of Wolfe, to
the extreme west, attacked the entrenchments at Freshwater Cove, the
strength of which reconnoitrings had not disclosed. This position was
protected by abattis skillfully disposed, and its guns were concealed
behind freshly-cut spruce and fir trees, which were not removed until
the moment of firing. This began as soon as the boats came within range.
Had it been reserved until the troops had landed on the beach and become
entangled in the trees, a slaughter as great as that of Ticonderoga
might have followed. The fire of the batteries was so effective that
Wolfe's division, in answer to his signal of recall, began to draw off.
The light breeze drove down on the entrenchments the smoke of their
own and the enemy's fire. Through this Wolfe saw-what was obscured from
the French-that behind a ridge which bounds the eastern side of the
cove, three boats under Lieutenants Hopkins anal Brown and Ensign Grant
had made good a landing on a narrow strip of sand among the rocks which
was protected from the fire of the batteries. He dashed in to support
them. Some little time was lost to the French by the fact that they
were ignorant of what was passing on the other side of the ridge, and
more, apparently, by the vacillation of Lieutenant-Colonel de St Julien,
the commander of the force in the entrenchments, when he became aware
of the fact that the enemy had landed. The first attack by skirmishers
was beaten back by the British, and soon the invaders were strong enough
to drive de St Julien and all the forces under him in disorder into
the city.

The
landing once made, it became on the one side a question of how quickly
the town could be taken; on the' other, how long that disaster could
be put off. The presence of the ships in the harbour and the Island
battery at the entrance, in Boscawen's opinion, made an attack by the
fleet impossible. Warren, a capable officer, would not attempt such
an attack, although there were in his time no men-of-war to defend the
port. On the other hand, the contempt in which the French military men
held des Gouttes and most of his officers, as well as the subsequent
ineffectiveness of his ships in defence, make it probable that their
effect would have been much less than sound naval judgment had estimated.
In consequence of the view that an attack from the sea at this stage
was impracticable, Wolfe almost at once led a force to erect a battery
at Lighthouse Point, to silence the Island battery, the chief defence
of the port.

THE
CAPTURE OF THE FORTRESS

In
the main the siege was carried on along the same lines as in 1745. The
length of time from landing to surrender was, notwithstanding the different
conditions, in the first attack forty-nine days, in this forty-eight.
The ships in the harbour were sunk or captured, only one escaping. This
was the Aréthuse, the most energetically handled of
the fleet, for she alone had for many days impeded the siege works until
dislodged from her advanced position. Sallies were made from the town,
which inflicted loss on the besiegers, but the irregulars from Canada
under Boishébert, from whom much was expected, failed signally
even to annoy the enemy. The defences were broken down, the harbour
was exposed to the fleet, 'the whole a dismal scene of total destruction,'
when on July 26 the town, open to a general assault, was surrendered
by de Drucour on the solicitation of its people. The keystone of the
arch of French power in America had been shattered. It remained only
utterly to destroy the arch, tottering to its fall, and from Louisbourg
sailed, on June 6 of the following year, the Armada before which Quebec
surrendered.

The
incidents of the siege possess dignity and interest adequate to the
importance of the event with which it closed. Notwithstanding the bitterness
of this war, 'Never,' says one diarist, 'was a siege conducted with
more delicacy of feeling.' There was the interchange of courtesies between
the commanders, the solicitude to avoid injury to non-combatants, and
the care of the sick and wounded ; the light-hearted bravery of the
young officers who made a landing, when Wolfe felt forced to retire,
and the reckless courage with which Wolfe and his men rushed in to their
support. There was, too, the courage of Madame de Drucour, wife of the
governor, herself the daughter of a house famed in the annals of the
French navy, who animated the defenders by her daily round of the fire-swept
ramparts ; of Vauquelin, commander of the Aréthuse, who
redeemed the reputation of his service by his handling of his ship,
and his skilful sortie through the blockading fleet ; of the officers
and men of the cutting-out expedition, which completed the destruction
of the French squadron, and gained new laurels for the British navy.
Louisbourg, too, furnished the first signal justification of the policy
of Pitt in forming the new Highland regiments. While the young Pretender
still lived they began, in the service of King George II, that splendid
record to which each following campaign of the British army has added
a new page.

After
the fall of Louisbourg four British regiments were placed as a garrison
in the fortress, and Brigadier Whitmore was appointed governor. Honours
and rewards were heaped upon the naval and military commanders, and
all England rejoiced at the capture of a stronghold which had been for
years a menace to British trade with America.

But
England had no intention of keeping up the Louisbourg establishment,
and with the fall of Quebec it was decided to demolish the fortress.
This was done for two reasons. The French attached the greatest importance
to the place, and should war break out again, France would undoubtedly
make a mighty effort to recover a stronghold which meant so much to
her trade and her sea power. England, moreover, had no need of Louisbourg,
as Halifax was now her naval base in North America.

In
1760 Governor Whitmore received orders to make the place untenable for
troops. For five months an army of men toiled at the work of demolition.
The walls and glacis were levelled into the ditch, and by the middle
of October only a few fishermen's houses, tumbled heaps of stones and
shapeless mounds remained to mark the spot that had been the strongest
artificial fortress in America.